Night People *** (1954, Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel, Buddy Ebsen) – Classic Movie Review 3498

Producer-writer-director Nunnally Johnson’s nimble and nifty 1954 Cold War suspense thriller Night People stars Gregory Peck, Broderick Crawford, Anita Björk, Rita Gam, Walter Abel and Buddy Ebsen, who greatly help to enliven the story about the American army’s attempts to get a Communist-abducted US soldier out of the Russian sector of Berlin.

Peck is excellent as the tough intelligence colonel Steve Van Dyke who leads the recovery effort. And there is top-notch work from producer-writer-director Johnson, who turns in a first-rate screenplay (based on a story by Joe Harris and Thomas Reed) while directing fast and furiously on atmospheric German locations.

Anita Björk plays ‘Hoffy’ Hoffmeier, Broderick Crawford is Charles Leatherby, Rita Gam is Ricky Cates, Walter Abel is Major R.A. Foster MD and Buddy Ebsen is Sergeant Eddie McColloch.

Also in the notable cast are Jill Esmond, Casey Adams [Max Showalter], Peter Van Eyck, Marianne Koch, Paul Carpenter, John Horsley, Lionel Murton, A Faerber, Ted Avery and Hugh McDermott.

Johnson’s screenplay is based on a story by Jed Harris and Tom Reed, who were Oscar nominated in 1955 for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

Night People is directed by Nunnally Johnson, runs 93 minutes, is released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Nunnally Johnson, based on a story by Jed Harris and Tom Reed, is shot in CinemaScope and Technicolor by Charles G Clarke, is produced by Nunnally Johnson and is scored by Cyril F Mockridge, with Art Direction by Hans Kuhnert and Theo Zwierski.

Peck and Gam re-united for Shoot Out [Shootout] (1971).

Sultry star Rita Gam died on 22 March 2016, aged 88.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3498

Link to home page for more reviews derekwinnert.com